God's flood of faithfulness

  Good afternoon friends & family, oh how I love the sunshine....and rain. Rain you ask? Shouldn't I just be soaking up this sun after such horrible flooding? Oh dear one, do not get me wrong! I have longed for bright days & peaceful nights. During these horrible storms & the constant down pour we've also battled being sick. Our nights have indeed been long ones. Not the best days for sound sleep, if any sleep.

  A couple weeks back at one of our Beth Moore bible studies a dear friend, Rebekah, had felt very burdened. She wasn't sure why & wasn't sure what to even pray. So we did something out of the ordinary & gathered in a circle & grasped hands & prayed. So few words when you just don't know where the burden comes from. Prayers went something like this "Only you know what lies beyond this moment in every one's life---protect father. Uphold. And here in the silence we wait for you. Such heavy hearts hushing up to hear a still, small voice." We had heard there were storms brewing that night, I also remember that being brought up in the prayers, "Keep everyone safe in this weather." This night was the beginning of the rain. No, we did not know what lied ahead but how faithful the Lord is to prepare our hearts. Once this particular study was over I remember driving home & never seeing lightening that bad. I was literally ducking every time it struck, it felt & looked that close. And thus continued this type of lightening, wall rattling thunder, tornado sirens & consistent down pour for days.

  Once businesses began to flood and the river continued to rise we knew this was no small stretch of thunder storms. People joked that we were waiting for two of every kind of animal to appear at our door. I continually told Lauren "think about how Noah felt!" For some reason this brought comfort to us. haha. In the middle of this crisis and the flood waters rising we were here, right in the middle of it, safe. I could walk out my front door and see a perfectly normal looking neighborhood and raise my eyes a little higher & look further and see a high river. What a weird feeling. And here we were with it all around us & yet we were.....safe. Our home was safe, our streets were safe, we had food, and Justin had work. Except for the inconvenience of roads being closed & shopping elsewhere for food, or the grudge of continual storms we were taken care of. You can see where I am going with us huh? I saw this circumstance in so many other areas of our walk with Him. Like Noah, we see what's going on, it's not hidden from us so we can have a fairytale life, but we are in the middle of it, yet, safe....sheltered. Fed. Clothed.

  Friends, God is good. No deaths due to this flood and for that I give God glory! I have been watching businesses clean up & open back up. My mom & sisters have been helping the red cross feed people lunches this past week at the community center. What a glow they had on their face---why? Because God was faithful to them & they were giving back, and this brings joy to one's heart. The sun has been out for two days now & life seems to be getting back to "normal." My babies are well & our nights are becoming peaceful once again. In the middle of these storms I have had to remember that God created lightening, wall, rattling thunder & rain as much as He did sunshine & roses. I looked for His hand during this time & knew this was part of Him as well. He is a great God but oh how faithful is He!

'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution. or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"  Romans 8:35 & 38-39.